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Spring Arena

Monday, 13 February 2017

''I leave my traducer to God, for I was not guilty of what I was convicted''-ibori

James Onanefe ibori, Former Governor of delta
state was at the Freedom Thanksgiving Service at Ogharefe, Delta State.

THE Former Governor of Delta State
had declared yesterday that he was not guilty of what he was convicted, saying he did
no wrong to warrant his incarceration at a United Kingdom prison for 13 years
which was commuted to about five years, stating that he is leaving his
traducers to God.

This is just as he said he has,
however, forgiven his jailers and handed them over to God.

Ibori made the statement during the
Ibori Freedom Thanksgiving Service held at the First Baptist Church, Ogharefe,
Ethiope West Local Government Area organised for him by the Oghara Traditional
Council.

With a mammoth crowd in attendance,
the church auditorium as well as its surroundings was filled to capacity by
friends, kinsmen, political associates and well-wishers of the man nicknamed:
“Odidigboigbo of Africa.”

Addressing the eager congregation
after the sermon was rendered by chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN), South South, Archbishop Goddowell Awomakpa, Ibori said that the pains
and sufferings of his people, while in the UK prison, were his major concern
and sorrows. “My pain is the pain of the sufferings that my people are going
through. It gives me joy that all your prayers have been answered.

Thereafter, the ex-governor echoed a gospel chorus in Urhobo language translated
as: “Who can battle with the Lord, who can battle with the Lord, I say nobody.”

Ibori, who code switched from English
language to Urhobo language intermittently, thanked the people for their show
of love throughout his travail in the foreign land.

“If I am to give testimony of my
journey, we will not live here today. The only testimony I have to give is that
I am alive and standing in your midst. I never had any doubt in my mind that I
would get back home,” he said amid cheers and emotions of triumph from the
congregation.

Meanwhile, in his sermon entitled:
“Knowing the Gift of God,” Archbishop Awomakpa, in his characteristic manner,
described the gift of God as someone who is obsessed with putting smiles on
other people’s faces.

Awomakpa was to later identify and
singled out former governor of Bendel State, late Sir Felix Ibru and Chief
Ibori as the only two quintessential Urhobos to have affected lives so
immensely in recent times.

Host traditional ruler, Ovie of
Oghara, His Royal Majesty (HRM), Noble Oyibo Eshemitan, the Orefe III, while
addressing the gathering, said his people were well pleased with Ibori.

According to the monarch, Ibori
brought honour to Oghara and Delta State although he had gone to a “special
school” and like the prodigal son, he’s back and “is it wrong to celebrate his
return? He queried.

He enjoined Deltans to join
political parties and gain political power in order to protect the interests of
Christians, adding that selfish interest as yardstick for participating in
politics should be eschewed at all cost.

Earlier at the thanksgiving
service, the committee in charge of the event has averred that freed former
governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, was not the cause of the
problem of Nigeria.

Speaking to journalists on Ibori
not being the cause of Nigeria’s trouble, chairman of the Ibori Freedom
Thanksgiving Service, Chief Emmanuel Ighomena, said the country has not gotten
better after his incarceration and eventual return.